ANY actor will tell you it can be a mistake to work with children or animals. But what about children dressed as animals? Well, in this shining production it became a winning combination with creative casting by the team at Waterloo and Crosby holding audiences spellbound.

First published in 1950 C S Lewis's famous fantasy novel is now available in 47 languages to thrill children everywhere.

Four evacuees are sent to safety to escape war-torn London. Whilst exploring their new surroundings the youngest, Lucy (Poppy Hart - what a darling!) is the first to discover the land of ice-bound Narnia lying beyond the wardrobe. Disbelieving at first, her siblings - Peter (Alex Burke), Susan (Jessica Latham) and Edmund (Thomas Corcoran) - soon see for themselves how much excitement lies between the racks of fur coats.

New friends are waiting - Mr Tumnus (Michael Gibson), Mr and Mrs Beaver (Red McCarthy and Laura Boylan), Aslan (Lucan (sic) Frost), and Father Christmas (Matthew Low). A host of other witty characters and charming animals completed the cast with the help of a talented choir and a four-piece band led by Charles Moss.

The captivating frosty white set transformed cleverly into a sparkle of summer sunshine in Act 2 and the costumes, masks and make-up were first-class. Alex Appleton's choreography was spot on ensuring that her characters literally never put a foot wrong.

Leo Appleton has excelled himself again with this full-scale youth musical; this was a brave and adventurous project and his direction was superb.

So the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve restored contentment to Narnia and the powers of the White Witch (Olivia Taylor-Goy) were banished forever.

There were tears in my eyes during the final emotional walk-down.

Score: 8 out of 10.What a talented bunch; all aged between 6 and 13. Lovely!

NODA Review

Waterloo &
Crosby

The Lion the
Witch and the Wardrobe

Blundellsands
United Reformed Church Hall.

Sat 14th
April.

This was a really
good choice of Show for the Youth Section of the Company,

As an adaptation
of “The Chronicles of Narnia” ,this was written as a Musical in 1982 and has
been developed and presented over the past 30 yrs in many different ways .

So ,for the
Celebration of the 30th Birthday of Waterloo and Crosby Theatre Co.
a new and refreshing production of this childhood fantasy ,would seem quite
fitting ,to be performed by the Junior Members .

The scene was set
even before the audience entered the Hall ,with some of the cast doing some
meeting and greeting, but with the addition of some props at the entrance , it
created a magical ambience .

Alex
Appleton.(Choreographer)really did manage to get the best from all of the
Performers ,all of whom were working so hard in all of their capacities to make
the whole show so believable ,authentic ,exciting, and funny,

The Main
Characters :- Peter( Alex Burke) Susan(Jessica Latham)

Edmund (Thomas
Corcoran) Lucy(Poppy Hart) were well cast and they each knew exactly what they
were doing ! There was so much script and so many, quite difficult songs to
learn…but nothing phased them and they were totally focused and disciplined
during the whole performance. Diction, facial expression and characterisation
was excellent.

With the youngest
being only 6yrs old they put us adults to shame !

All of the
supporting Characters were equally well cast and extremely proficient at
portraying their roles. The Animals, Rabble and the Choir were excellent and
managed to uphold all their little characters brilliantly.

The Band were
excellent ! Well balanced and sympathetic to the fact that they were
accompanying and supporting children’svoices , they weren’t overpowering and the Four Piece was just the right
.

Costumes were
fabulous ,very authentic and it was obvious that the Wardrobe Team had worked
very hard indeed to create some amazing and effective characters, including
some specially designed Masks which were extremely professional and lifelike.

The Stage Manager
and Crew coped really well with the basic facilities that the venue had to
offer and the scene and props changes worked really efficiently.

My
Congratulations goes to the whole Company, Committee, Production Team, Cast, Crew,
Front of House and all involved with such a lovely Production.

Thank you to Pam
Foy for the lovely Hospitality.

I thoroughly
enjoyed my evening with you and look forward to meeting you all again.